These species are endangered in Philippines. Infrastructure for the research station out of town is proceeding slowly but steadily: what was derelict farm land six years ago is now covered with lush grass and growing trees, a house for the caretaker and her husband/landscaper, aviaries for rescued Cockatoos.Ī series of freshwater tanks hold turtles. Indira believes that working with children is the way forward to protect wildlife. Jewel, an enthusiastic young graduate, runs the office she shows us the first rate teaching materials for school kids about the necessity of preserving local bio diversity. The municipality has granted Katala, free of charge, both an office in town and a two-hectare site outside. Narra, a pretty provincial town 90 minutes drive from Puerta Princesa, calls itself the Cockatoo capital of the Philippines. The chicks reintegrated with the flock and fledged. The wardens hung a net cage from the trees, removed the chicks three times a day, fed them and put them back in nest. Sigi is a founding member of Katala and now works at Narra as the Field Operations Officer. “If we had not interfered they would have died,” Siegfred Diaz told us. They were starving because in drought conditions the parents were unable to find enough food. In 2010 wardens retrieved 4 chicks from nests from Rasa Island. Sometimes conservation entails interference. The chick sounds loudly indignant even to our ears many metres below. He needs one arm to cling on and so has to work with one hand only. He has trouble removing the chick from the nest site because the hole is underneath the branch. Sabino uses the same technique to cross from slender neighbouring tree to wider nest tree. Surely they won’t be tempted to poach again. On Rasa, everyone on the island appears proud of their Cockatoos. Indira says that the release of rescued Cockatoos will be on islands where they can be monitored. Several hundred dollars provides an incredible incentive for poor farmers who need cash to buy medicine or consumer goods. The price for a poached chick in Manila has risen over recent years. She calculates that one poacher stole 168 chicks over a decades-long career. Indira points out that once enlisted as a warden, they receive a basic salary all year round rather than an occasional lump sums for poached chicks. They can also be trained in collecting data.įormerly poachers kept their individual trees. In company with other NGOS, Katala has found that once these men can be persuaded to turn gamekeeper, they have invaluable skills in climbing trees and extensive practical knowledge of the Cockatoos’ breeding habits. Peter Widmann says that involving Cockatoo poachers as wildlife wardens is essential to arrest decline of the species in the short-term and to recover subpopulations in the long term. Out of a Philippines staff of 38 wardens and field workers, 15 are ex-poachers. I could have spent hours with the unfamiliar trees and flowers. The forest on this island is practically untouched. We take a short rest (I need one) at a camp site for the wardens where they cook rice on an open fire, and then a long forest walk to a second nest tree. Eventually a feather is taken, a ring put on the unringed chick and the chicks are hoisted back to the nest. René gets bitten through his surgical gloves. The almost fledged chicks wriggle like crazy and yell like banshees. Their expressions are so tender both are smiling constantly. René and Indira handle the chicks with speedy efficiency. This nest contained 3 chicks, one has already fledged, (we spot him flying with his parents high above us) so only two are brought down for feather sampling and weighing. The two are weighed and measured. While this is happening, the parents are circling round and yelling at the tops of their voices. He waits in the nest tree until all procedures with the chicks on the ground are over and they are hoisted up and replaced in the nest. He collects chicks in a linen bag which is then lowered to the ground. At the top of the slender tree opposite the nest hole, Sabino throws a plaited vine as a boomerang and secures access to the nest tree.
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